Kyle M Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 (edited) Trip: Sloan Peak - FA: Superalpine (WI3-4, 1000')Trip Date: 02/28/2020Trip Report: On February 28th, 2020, @PorterM and I made what we believe to be the first winter ascent of the West Face of Sloan Peak. We climbed an incredible line approximately 1000 ft long of WI3-4 and steep snow climbing before our route joined the final 600 ft of snowfields to the summit. On the very final ice step, I suffered a short fall on rotten ice and a heinous top out and broke a few bones in the right side of my face. We bailed down the route and skied out. So technically, I guess we didn't finish the route, so say what you want about it. Our route started with a WI4ish pitch followed by hundreds of feet of stellar WI3 rambly flows in a gully just to the climber's right of the true west ridge spur on Sloan Peak. In our eyes, this was the only way up the true west face under WI4+/5. The whole face is loaded with huge free hanging daggers and wild lines. A competent WI6/M6 climber in the right conditions could send some absolute world class lines up there. I shared a lot more details, reflections on the accident, and route beta on my blog: https://climberkyle.com/2020/02/28/fa-sloan-peak-superalpine-wi3-4-1000/. Hopefully some others can get up there and finish this magnificent climb or poach some of the other unclimbed lines. Our route. up to where I fell. We were about to join the corckscrew route and head out. We climbed the gully on the right side of the photo. First pitch crux. Moving into the wonderful ice gully. Porter leading on that fat, fun, rambly WI3. The climbing in the gully was generally easy, sustained, and super fun! Incredible flows on the west face. Some helpful beta. Gear Notes: Screws, maybe a few small rock pieces and a picket.Approach Notes: Skin/hike forest service road 4096, then meander up Bedal Creek to the base of the west face. Edited March 5, 2020 by Kyle M 5 8 Quote
DPS Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Super job! Doesn't matter if you summitted, only that you accurately report what you did and have fun with it all! 6 1 Quote
JasonG Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Your face!!!!! Gaaaaaahhhhhh. Glad you survived, wow. 1 1 Quote
Nolan E Arson Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Wow, fantastic work! Hope you have a speedy and uncomplicated recovery. Thanks for the compelling write-up and thoughtful analysis in your blog post too. There are a few take-away lessons for me, and I appreciate the opportunity to reflect. 1 Quote
Alisse Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Glad you're okay! Going to read the blog post now... 1 Quote
Bronco Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Really impressive that you and especially Porter were able to keep your wits. After looking at your injury and being 1,000' up an alpine route with a storm coming in, I would be needing a change of underwear. 1 Quote
mrice1225 Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Damn that looks like it hurt. Glad you're alright! Great write up, thanks for posting. 1 Quote
DPS Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Yikes! I just read the blog post and saw the photo. I hope that doesn't leave a mark! Reminds me of some idiot that managed to fall off the Girth Pillar. 1 Quote
Rad Posted March 5, 2020 Posted March 5, 2020 Wow! Scary and inspiring all at once. I'm really glad you're going to be OK. Doing a self-rescue from a serious injury that high on a face is something you should be proud of, and perhaps will be in time. It seems you guys did a lot of things right. Many years ago, in early fall Alex and I ascended a rock line right around where your red line is. The rock climbing was super fun and solid and moderate, but the line meandered back and forth, ascending from ledge to ledge, so the aesthetics weren't quite so great. The upper half of Sloan is like a multi-tiered wedding cake. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be with winter frosting. I'm glad to see someone get up there. Great job and thanks for posting! 1 Quote
Kyle M Posted March 6, 2020 Author Posted March 6, 2020 Thank you to everyone for their support! It was a wild adventure, that's for sure. Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted March 9, 2020 Posted March 9, 2020 Thanks for sharing, that looks like a great route and adventure, even if the end wasn't quite as planned. That looks like it hurt! Heal up and get back out there! 1 Quote
Michael Telstad Posted March 9, 2020 Posted March 9, 2020 My friend Sean and I went for the FSA (First Second Ascent) this weekend the slow and heavy way, Unfortunately the weather gods had different plans. When we got to camp in the basin it had snowed more than expected, and kept snowing hard through the night. We called it as we were going to bed to the sounds of large natural slides ripping down the north and west face. Luckily I brought my fat (read only) skis and we got a few laps of knee deep powder in the basin before skiing out. I had been looking at your guys line earlier this season as the obvious line of weakness up the face but I lack the motivation to venture that far into the unknown. Thanks for dreaming big and I hope you heal up fast to get back out there this summer! 2 1 Quote
Rad Posted March 9, 2020 Posted March 9, 2020 Laps in knee deep pow sounds like a pretty good consolation prize. Quote
Kyle M Posted March 9, 2020 Author Posted March 9, 2020 (edited) @Michael Telstad glad you gave it a shot! Definitely snowed more than was forecasted. I hope you can give it another shot since the weather is staying cool. Next weekend looks good! I think it'd be a FCA (first complete ascent) since our FA is debatable... Edited March 9, 2020 by Kyle M Quote
Michael Telstad Posted March 9, 2020 Posted March 9, 2020 @Kyle M I think we tried to force it this time around. We should have known it wasn't gonna go after hearing that baker got a surprise 2ft of fresh the day before. Going forward I'm definitely gonna wait for firm safe conditions and a bombproof weather forecast. 2 Quote
Kyle M Posted March 10, 2020 Author Posted March 10, 2020 (edited) @Michael Telstad exactly, that's why we waited until the face had not seen fresh snow in 4-5 days before going up. Hard to get sometimes. We waited all winter for it. There was still a lot of spindrift. The other (ideal) condition would be a high rain event, then hard freeze to lock everything up. Then you'd be able to boot everything. Edited March 10, 2020 by Kyle M 3 Quote
Stefan Posted March 10, 2020 Posted March 10, 2020 Be thankful you get another day. thanks for the extensive writeup! 1 Quote
ScaredSilly Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 Nice attempt, get better and get back on it. 2 Quote
Ryan Hoover Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Good attempt! Hope you heal up! I had a pretty good attempt up the middle a few years back. Ran out of time on a car to car attempt. Some very thin unprotecable climbing to be had! 2 Quote
Hans Travis Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Snow free besides one patch until a mile up, then consistent snow the rest of the way as of yesterday. A few strong dudes with tacoma, chains and a chainsaw could probably drive to the end with half a days work. Quote
Kyle M Posted March 17, 2020 Author Posted March 17, 2020 @Ryan Hoover which line did you attempt? Quote
Kyle M Posted March 17, 2020 Author Posted March 17, 2020 @PorterM and Tavish went back and finished the step where I fell and got a few hundred feet higher onto the upper snowfields. Check it out: 1 Quote
Kyle M Posted March 25, 2020 Author Posted March 25, 2020 I took some more time to reflect on the whole experience with Sloan: the mistakes, the aftermath, the criticisms, and ultimately, what this climb means to me. If you want to get real deep: https://climberkyle.com/2020/03/25/life-after-sloan/ 1 1 1 Quote
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